Close Assaulting Tanks

[SlapHappy]

Using the "Test Scenario" uploaded by another poster, I was able to rush tanks and close assault them with grenades.

To my surprise, I was able to knock out the T-55 MV and cause the crew to bail out where they met a hail of gunfire....

Has anyone else done this? Combined with smoke, this might not be a bad option from cover when nothing else is available. Very risky, though.

[SlapHappy]

OK. This is VERY hit or miss. Taking the tank on head-on results in a lot of casualties and usually fails....BUT IT IS POSSIBLE.

Attacking out of a building onto a tank that has strayed too close or out of some other type of cover would probably be more effective.

[reel-why]

I had no idea this was possible. I sort of thought in the modern warfare getting that close to a tank is usually impossible. Pretty cool that its in there. Can syrian forces do it too?

[SlapHappy]

Originally posted by reel-why:

I had no idea this was possible. I sort of thought in the modern warfare getting that close to a tank is usually impossible. Pretty cool that its in there. Can syrian forces do it too?

I'm not sure. Perhaps you could give it a try and report back to the thread?

Needless to say, I was a little surprised myself. I was really just messing around when I discovered it. I have been able to replicate once after about 4 attempts.

[thewood]

I am guessing at this:

Maybe its that tactics have evolved to not allow tanks to become isolated enough that infantry can sneak up on blind spots.

[TOG]

I guess that tanks are much tougher thiese days and it's almost impossible to destroy it with not specialized infantry weapons. And antitank infantry weapons have also evolved and now soldiers don't have to come so close to the tank to destroy it. Tank assaulting was always last resort action, but back in WWII AT infantry weapons were rare and in some armies almost didn't exist. Soldiers had to improvise on a large scale. Hence all the molotav cocktails, grenade bundles etc. Nowdays even the most underequipped fighters have few RPG's avalible, not to mention regular army units.

[John Kettler]

TOG,

Do a Grozny search on the Forums and you'll find that the Chechens racked up quite a toll on the late model T-72 equipped Russians using tank hunter teams armed with RPG-7s and the supposedly useless Molotov cocktails. Circa 1989 the U.S. Army was developing a copy of the East German HAG, which itself was a version of the Russian RKG hollow charge grenade, the big brother of the one in CMBB. It may've been cancelled when we finally got something better than the LAW.

Regards,

John Kettler

[thelmia]

Syrian grenades kill tanks fine. I wouldn't count on it, but it's nice to have something to try once the RPGs are gone.

[John Kettler]

TOG,

Here's the thread I mentioned.

http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=001115#000000

This one has, under my name, a bunch of Grozny links.

http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=002246#000000

Regards,

John Kettler

[ October 09, 2007, 12:18 AM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

[Secondbrooks]

Originally posted by John Kettler:

TOG,

Do a Grozny search on the Forums and you'll find that the Chechens racked up quite a toll on the late model T-72 equipped Russians using tank hunter teams armed with RPG-7s and the supposedly useless Molotov cocktails.

MBTs external fuelcan's were puntured with smallarms fire and then ignited. Not sure did this result crew to bail out or/and mobilitykill or/and just eased RPG-gunners job other ways, like flames and smoke preventing crew to open fire against AT-team.

[John Kettler]

Secondbrooks,

Tank crews are extremely distressed by fire, no doubt something to do with being cooped up in an armored box full of explosives and combustibles. If something's burning outside, the ventilators pull it in, and history shows that burning bedrolls are more than enough to get the crew's undivided attention. Indeed, a King Tiger? was taken out when a Sherman's WP round did this, freaking out the crew and leading to tank abandonment. Russian tank crews may well recall that a number of their conferes were roasted alive during the coup attempt before Yeltsin consolidated power. Burning fuel smells paint their own horrific picture in the crew's mind. BTW, I erred in leaving out the T-80s from the Grozny toll.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Secondbrooks]

John Kettler: there should be system which defeats flames automatically, but of course if there's big external fueltank on fire, it might be that the system can't defeat as there's too much fuel to burn.

Other thing is what chechens (most likely written wrong) were after might have been cooling system of engine. It should result as mobility kill eventually (might take minutes).

T-72 should be pretty resistant against flames as it has diesel engine... Unlike early models of T-80s or other vehicles with turbine engine.

But like you said, flames are not something that tankers would want to see and it might run them in panic.

Well... I've read more about T-80 in grozny, i don't know much about T-72's performace in there. Infact, i didn't know about molotovs coctails... I thought that they would have used old Afgantrick: "pack of napalm attached to RPG-7's warhead" (God, i worship this idea + additional TNT packs too)

[MikeyD]

WWII accounts had T34 crews so rattled by sustained non-penetrating gunfire that they'd sometimes opt for bailing out and certain death instead of cringing in their steel coffins waiting to be incinerated. i've read several accounts over a few different wars of troops occassionally freaking out and bailing from their tanks only to sheepishly crawl back in afterwards. One anecdote had a bailed Churchil continue on at walking speed. the drived was so embarrassed at having bailed he scampered back to the moving tank, remounted, and drove it back.

[John Kettler]

Secondbrooks,

Fire suppression systems are mounted internally, not externally. For Russian tanks, unless there's been a change, using the internal system may stop the interior fire, but will also force at least temporary evacuation. Why? The flame suppressant in the extinguisher is toxic!

Even a diesel fueled tank's engine compartment is vulnerable to fire, thanks not just to inevitable oil dribbles and such, but to the fact that hoses and wiring insulation also burn nicely. Hadn't heard about the muj trick.

MikeyD,

Wasn't just T-34s. Please see Zaloga's Russian Heavy Tanks in the Osprey series for accounts like this involving the early war KV-1 and KV-2. Love the Churchill anecdote!

Regards,

John Kettler